Border Crossings I

Well, I must say, I crossed the border several days ago, and I have lots to write about the arrival, but a few notes about crossing borders:
I think KFC is one of the few multinationals that can adapt everywhere. I realize MacDonalds has usually received the brunt of the scorn and is the symbol of globalization everywhere, but I must say, KFC is even more pervasive, because who's going to object to chicken, especially when it's deep-fried? Sometimes I think that the good old Colonel should be the face of globalization...
Crossing the border was much less hassle than I thought; I was sure I was going to encounter some austere Syrian border guards, but it totally wasn't that way at all. My servee's driver and the Bedouin who rode with us were helpful, and the Syrians were downright friendly! First impressions: Syria is much more fertile (we were driving mainly beside produce trucks all the way to Damascus) and green than Jordan, for sure, but there's much more to it than that....
Also, I'm developing a theory that the relative properity and wealth of a nation is directly proportional to how orderly traffic flow is in your country. I think there is something to be said about a country that adopts orderliness as a virtue to leading to economic prosperity. It is strange how traffic "rules" are merely suggestions in most of the developing world, rather than laws. It's interesting how a two-lane highway is an abstraction, and, in fact, can adapt to becoming three or four lanes, depending on what the needs are at the moment. It was quite hair-raising when we drove between a transport truck, a tourist bus, and another car simultaneously on the highway in order to pass all THREE vehicles in a two lane highway....